Is bigger better?

[webguy]

Hi.  I am planning to build a gaming pc and I have a question about the cases.  Is bigger better for the case?  I have plenty of room and do not need it to be small to fit where it is going.  Would a bigger case be better for cooling and cable management etc.?  The pc will likely have an i9 9900k with a 2080 gpu and will be used mostly for gaming and streaming as well as some video editing and web design work.  I will likely have it running for long periods of time like 12 or more hour sessions playing fast paced fps games like apex legends and pubg while also streaming and capturing video for youtube.  With it running that long and hard I want cooling to be a priority in it so it performs really well and does not have any heat problems.  Would a bigger case help with the heat since there would be more room inside it?

 

I am thinking of the nzxt h700 but that is only because I have heard it mentioned so much.  I do not know if the h700 size would be better for temperature control than the h500.  If there is a better case than the h700 based on what I am doing please let me know.  Thanks!

[.Apex.]

It's how you use it

 

No but seriously, it's not about size per se it's more importantly about how efficiently can you remove the warm air from the case, the H500 and H700 are both pretty good for your use case (pun intended), as long as you replace the stock fans and get some quality fans in there you'll be golden, and I believe cable management is the same in the H500 and H700 but i'm not sure, I have the S340 Elite and it has awesome cable management.

[Streetguru]

28 minutes ago, webguy said:

 

What budget/country?

 

What resolution/refresh rate for gaming?

 

a used 1080ti is a better buy for higher end gaming, they're only $500 USD

 

and a Ryzen 7 1700 is $160 right now and can do close enough to the same job as the 9900K. Leaving you with a "cheap" upgrade to a 16 core CPU down the road in june/july.

 

You mostly just want a case that actually has airflow, like a coolermaster H500

 

[Spotty]

Yes, and no.
Smaller cases will typically be more restrictive, only allow for smaller coolers, and have less air flow.
Bigger cases will allow for larger air coolers, more and larger radiators (AIOs/custom loops), more air flow.

But, you could have a big case that has horrible cooling performance due to reasons other than just its size, such as a completely closed off front panel due to a solid glass panel being placed 2mm in front of the front intake fans (ie the Walmart OVERPOWERED cases), which may end up performing worse than a well designed, air flow orientated smaller case.

How are you planning on cooling the 9900k? Air cooler or water? If you're planning on using a 280/360mm AIO then it might not fit in some smaller ATX mid tower cases and you might need a larger ATX full tower.

[webguy]

Thank you everyone for the information.  I think I may go with the h700 or a big case like that.  I have plenty of room for it and I do not want heat to be a problem at all in it.  I was thinking about cooling with an aio but then read about leak problems so now I plan to get a good air cooler for it and the extra room in the case may be helpful for that.  Thanks.

[Corsair Nick]

Leaking AIO's do come up time to time, but some companies like Corsair have policies in the unlikely event something catastrophic does occur.  I get asked about this quite often from people that are on the fence about water cooling their system.

 

As far as case suggestions, the Corsair 680X and 678C are two new cases you might be interested in.  680X is a twin chamber design which mounts your drives and PSU away from your other components that generate a lot of heat, and is incredibly easy to cable manage.  If you're looking to house a lot of drives for the workflow you mentioned, the 678C might be the route to go.  It can house up to 8 3.5" Drives, and is built with sound damping foam, providing quiet operation while you stream.  Let me know if you have questions about either case, or if you have any concerns about running an AIO in your rig.